The present invention relates, generally, to remote data management, and, more particularly, to management of stored-value card data. In general, stored-value card data is information relating to services and/or products the cost of which has been prepaid by the owner or end user of the card. Examples of prepaid services that may be accommodated by a stored-value card include long distance telephone communication, wireless communication, paging and internet-enabled communication services, including wireless web access, emergency road service, legal service, accounting service, tax service, property cleaning and/or maintenance service, clothes cleaning service, transportation service, travel service, delivery service, online (or off-line) dating service, electrical and/or gas service, water service, sewage service, internet access, and film processing (including digital film processing). Other examples of stored-value or prepaid cards include gift cards, prepaid gas cards, prepaid grocery cards, prepaid entertainment cards, prepaid movie cards, downloadable ring tone cards, downloadable game cards, downloadable movie cards, downloadable music cards that use MP3, MP4, WMV, WAV, or other music formats, any other downloadable software card, customer rewards cards, bridge and/or road toll cards, and any other type of stored-value cards for products, services, or both, that may be prepaid by the owner of the card. Stored value cards may also be used to pay bills or to insert value into customer accounts.
The general model for stored-value cards involves a customer purchase of a card from a merchant for a face value or for a customer-determined value. Each card has an identification number that may be printed and/or magnetically stored on the card. The identification number is also stored in a file in a database maintained by the card issuer. This file is also used to store the value of the card. In the traditional business model, when the cards are sent to the retail location from which they will be sold the corresponding records in the database are already activated, thus allowing the card to be used immediately by a customer.
Depending on the type of card, the card may be used by physically presenting the card to a retailer at the time of purchase or, as is typically the case for telecommunications purchases, by relating the identification number and/or a personal identification number (PIN) to a service provider. For example, to use the card as a prepaid long distance card, the customer dials a toll free number to access the card issuer's system, enters the identification number, and then makes the desired long-distance call. During the call, the value of the card in the database is reduced as a function of phone charges accumulated during that call. When the value of the card is exhausted, the call terminates. If the customer ends the call before the value of the card is exhausted, the remaining value may be used for additional calls. Once the entire value of the card has been used, the card is discarded.
Preactivated card systems have several disadvantages. For example, since the cards are active while on the shelf in the retail location, the cards may be stolen by a thief and easily used. One way to address some of the drawbacks of prior art prepaid phone card systems would be to install activation terminals unique to the stored-value or prepaid card issuer. This is referred to as a “closed system.” U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,109 by Stimson et al. discloses such a closed system. In the Stimson system, the cards are not preactivated. Each of the retail locations from which cards are to be sold is provided with a dedicated activation terminal which allows the retail operator to set the value of the card at the time of the sale. The activation terminal connects to the card issuer's system to pass along the value amount and to request activation of the card. Depleted cards can be recharged in the same manner as they are sold. A serious disadvantage of the Stimson system is that it requires single-function, dedicated hardware to be installed in each retail location, resulting in a very inflexible and expensive system.
It would be further desirable to provide a system that allows for selectively processing stored-value card requests, such as stored-value card activation, deactivation, and/or incrementing, based on a table of predefined codes associated with respective user groups.